Full Court Picks contest down to Terrific Two

That’s all fine and dandy, but as far as the Full Court Picks contest sponsored by The Courier-Tribune is concerned, we’re apparently down to the Terrific Two.

Asheboro’s Wes Luther and Jeffrey Bennett are the two left standing after nearly 90 began the contest. Luther is wearing the red and white of Louisville and if the heavily-favored Cardinals do indeed capture the national championship Monday night, he will be watching all the highlights Tuesday on his brand new flat screen television donated by Luck’s TV in Ramseur. Thanks to Luck’s TV, by the way, for donating a wonderful prize.

If any other team wins the championship, meaning Syracuse, Michigan or Wichita State (hey, it could happen), than Jeffrey Bennett will be the one watching the analysis of the championship game on a new television. Bennett chose Kansas, which was eliminated by MICHIGAN! And whether it’s Wes or Jeffrey who win, they not only get the television and bragging rights, they have my congratulations. It’s been a wild college basketball season and the NCAA Tournament has been just as wild. Tell the truth. Did you even know where Florida Gulf Coast University was before the tournament started? Even though they beat Miami at the start of the season, I didn’t go rushing to the Internet to find out that North Carolina has the fourth-highest number of FGCU alum, trailing only Florida, Georgia and Illinois. I also didn’t know there are 11,279 undergraduate students and 1,376 graduate students. Heck, I couldn’t have told you its nickname was the Eagles.

And here is a very interesting fact: The school is located in Fort Myers, Fla., and the Mayor of Fort Myers is former Asheboro resident Randall Henderson, who was recently voted into the Asheboro High School Hall of Fame. He was a 1975 graduate of AHS and was named Mr. Blue Comet his senior year.

He wrote a letter to the local paper and thanked the university for bringing back fond memories of when he grew up in Asheboro, in the heart of ACC country, and the excitement he felt watching ACC basketball.

Of course FGCU, when you become known, things like the story to the right of this column are always a possibility.

Back to our contest, of our top 10 pickers so far, only Luther and Lynn Brady of Coleridge have picked Louisville to win the title. Duke was the choice of four of them, Kansas the choice of two of them, with Indiana, Miami and Gonzaga each getting one championship vote.

So, we’ll have one big Louisville fan this weekend and one rooting for anyone but Louisville. Good luck to both of you and thanks everyone for playing.